Black Lilies, White Roses
by Ming Li
Summary: Two supposedly muggle girls are pushed through the 9 and 3/4 barrier. One seems normal (if vageuly psychopathic), but the other is surrounded by mystery.. Who are they? What do they want? Why is Draco so pretty? (Pairings: D/G, H/Cho R/Hr)


  
Blowpipes, knives, guitars,   
  
September first. A crowd gathered around a crimson train, blowing clouds of silvery steam.  
Children, teenagers, adults. All clad in black robes. Black hats. The day was cold. Wet, gray, rainy.. it altogether sucked. The people were emerging from the train -- almost amusing in their strangeness. How alien they were to eyes unused to the cohesive way they all connected.  
Yet, two students appeared out of the normal.   
One was oddly small among the sea of darkness.. for she wore nothing but a white, silk dress, sleeveless and falling to her mid-calves. It clung to her upper body, and flared at the waist, offsetting caramel skin. A long sheet of pitch-black hair fell to her mid-back. Steely gray eyes seemed out of place in an otherwise perfect face.  
The other was entirely odd-looking. Her hair was dyed a sort of faded, faintly violet, black color. Chunks of red fell along the back and sides. Streaks of gold-orange framed her face, the roots of her hair, and random piece-y strands. It fell to about her collar in a Ransom style cut. Altogether an intricate ordeal. Her eyes were brown and her skin pale. She wore an army-green pleated skirt and cream colored sleeveless top with two holes to show patches of skin. Pump shoes, the color of the top, adorned her feet. She wore olive and black fishnets, even over her shoes, which was an odd mix. She also wore some make-up (consisting of lipgloss and clear mascara), unlike the other girl, who didn't need any.  
A pale boy with a pointed face sneered at them as he went by.  
"Transfer students, I see.. weirdos, at that." He flickered his gaze over the fishnetted one's legs.  
"Hey! Knock it off, pervert!" Her voice was very feminine, but aggressive. She sounded much younger than she really was. She advanced at him, only to be stopped by the other girl's melodic, lower voice. A latina accent came through.  
"Leave it, Poswet."  
"Hn." She gave the boy a dirty look.  
"Firs' years! Firs' years, this way!" cried a huge, shaggy-bearded man.   
"Lili, what're we gonna *do*? How'd we get here? All I remember is that dumb kid with glasses and his friend knocked onto us, and then we decided to board that stupid train.. whose idea was that, anyway?" Poswet said this all very fast.  
"Yours," responded the white-clad girl, who was named Lili, apparently.  
"Oh. Damn it." She sighed.  
"Hey, hurry it up!" Everyone had gotten onto carriages, and a red-headed boy stuck his head out of one to yell at them.  
"Huh?" Poswet looked over. "Oh! It's YOU! You and your dumb friend knocked into us! It's your fault we're here!"  
"What are you talking about! Get in the carriages, you lot!"   
Lili looked at her friend with an unreadable expression. "I suppose we'd better get on, then. At least they'll take us somewhere."  
"Yeah." Reluctantly, they boarded the carriages -- Lili noticing that there were no horses, but not commenting.  
"Are you two transfer students, or something?" The redheaded boy looked around at them.  
"What's all this about 'transfer students'? It's still summertime, in Canada!" protested Poswet, eyeing the redhead curiously.  
"Oh, you're Canadians? I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter." The other boy looked around at them.  
"Heeyyy." Poswet leaned forward til her forehead was nearly touching his. "Cool scar."  
"Uh.." He looked at her oddly.  
"Oh.." The girl grinned. "I'm Poswet To, and this is--"  
Her friend cut her off. "Clarissa Crucita Dahlia Limoniz Corazon Delcine Montoya. They call me Lili."  
"Lemonize?" Ron looked entirely confused.  
"Lili," said the hispanic girl firmly.  
"You're not Canadian, are you? I'm Hermione Granger, by the way." A girl with curly brown hair looked over at them.  
"I was born in Mexico. I live in Canada now, though."  
It was Poswet's turn to interrupt.  
"Where in God's name are we?"  
Hermione raised an eyebrow.  
"You're on the carriage to Hogwarts, obviously. We're nearly there." She pointed out the window at the castle looming above.  
"Holy shit!" Poswet swore, practically hanging out the window, trying to get a better look. Lili pulled her back in, observing the castle with cool indifference.  
"What's Hogwarts?"   
Hermione looked surprised. "You mean you don't know?"  
"Evidently not, if I'm asking." Stress made the white-clad girl sharp.  
Hermione looked a bit affronted, but responded anyway.   
"It's a *school*, for Witchcraft and Wizardry.. How did you get here without knowing that? And for that matter, where are your robes?"  
Lili stared at her, testing to see if she was serious. Much to her annoyance, she found Hermione to be so.  
"Don't they have Witchcraft schools in Canada? You must be magic, if you can see the castle. Why were you in London, anyhow?" asked Harry.  
Poswet answered instead of Lili.  
"If Lili believes this story you're telling us, I suppose I should too.. They must not have schools like this in Canada.. We were in London on vacation, we were supposed to take the train down to the airport to get home.. Christ, what are we going to do?"  
"You should talk to Professer Dumbledore as soon as you get in," Harry said. Hermione nodded in agreement. Ron was still staring at Lili and Poswet, dumbstruck. Probably at the length of Lili's name.  
"And we're here, now.." They clambered out of the carriage, each person grabbing their luggage. Lili had a suitcase and a satchel. Poswet had not one, but two guitar cases, presumably with guitars inside (although one bulged suspiciously as if she'd stored clothing inside, instead), a black backpack, and a sheath slung over her back, sword inside.  
They trooped up to the school. Harry spotted Dumbledore immediately and ran over.  
"Professer? Um, there's been an incident.. two muggles from Canada somehow got through the barrier, onto the train, and they can see the castle!"  
Dumbledore looked over at them. His eyes acquired their familiar twinkle.  
"Well, Harry, would you ask your new friends to please speak to me as soon as possible?"  
"Yes, sir." Harry scurried back over to Lili and Poswet and informed them.  
As the corridor emptied, only Dumbledore and the two girls were left remaining. Lili felt a great power emanating from the man, while Poswet felt that he was immensely amused with this situation.  
In fact, both were true.  
Introductions were made and situations explained. Dumbledore was thoughtful a moment, then smiled.  
"Would you like to attend school here? We'd have to give you tutors, but you could be sorted in about.. ten minutes. I will ask your head of house to take you to get supplies."  
This was quite unexpected. Lili and Poswet exchanged glances, and responded in unison.  
"Yes."  
"Well, that's settled then!" Dumbledore said brightly. "You may be sorted. I suggest you follow the first years.." He indicated a bunch of terrified eleven year olds on the other side of the hall - "..to the Sorting."  
"The sorting?" whispered Poswet as they walked towards the first years. Dumbledore had disappeared, Lili noticed.  
Lili waited patiently for her name to be called.   
"Montoya, Crucita."  
When she walked into the hall, there was a sudden murmuring, whispers, the crowds around her breaking into disarray. Voices echoed. Gazes were locked on the angelic, cruel young woman in her white silk dress. She heard a voice saying quietly, '*Crucita?* Definitely a Slytherin.'  
She turned, looking over her shoulder slightly, with that same cold, elegant smile playing over perfect features.  
The boy who had spoken stepped back suddenly, as if she'd threatened him somehow. Yet she hadn't spoken a word.  
She resumed walking, and slid onto the stool.  
The hat covered her eyes, and she heard another voice, right near her ear.  
"My, my.. you are an interesting creature, aren't you..? You're blocking your thoughts very well.."  
She closed her eyes and listened to the hat.  
"Quite the ice maiden.. I don't see ambition.. definitely wit, but it's used to destroy others. You seem like the stereotypical Slytherin, except you don't care about power.. No, you have enough of that already, don't you?"  
"Just get it over with," she murmured.  
"Well.. I get bored, you know.. and this should cause some excitement.. so we better have you be.. SLYTHERIN!"  
The last word elicited silence. The Slytherin table didn't look like it knew whether to be pleased or what. This would be the first muggle-born to be in Slytherin, ever.  
The young woman slipped the hat off her head, walking slowly to a place next to silvery phantasm she supposed would be a ghost. No one moved aside for her.  
"To, Poswet!"   
The response was altogether different for the taller girl. As she skidded forward, plopping down unceremoniously on the stool and putting the hat on her head, Gryffindors looked at her with interest. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs looked mildly disturbed, and Slytherins just looked annoyed.  
The first thing she said to the hat was probably out of the ordinary.  
"I have a song stuck in my head!"  
"I see that.. The Gogos mixed with Dir En Grey? Interesting," muttered the hat with barely concealed amusement.  
"So.. um.. what am I being sorted for?"  
"You'll see. Let's see.. lots of bravery.. a tendency towards mischief.. And you're not good at studying at all.. you seem a bit flighty, and prone to having an attitude.. I don't really know where to put you.. so I think we'll put you in.. GRYFFINDOR!"  
The Gryffindor table cheered, and two redheaded twins gestured for her to sit by them. She happily threw the hat into the air and skipped over.  
"Nice hair," commented one. The other just grinned.  
"Thank you!" she chirped, smoothing her shirt. Two girls sitting directly behind her were tittering and mumbling about her over-the-shoes fishnet stockings and 'scandalously short' pleated skirt.  
"I get to get robes soon.. The guy with the beard said so.."  
"You mean Dumbledore?"  
"Is that his name? Well.. I'm mad.. 'cause I wanted Lili to be in my house thingy thing.."  
"Who's Lili?" questioned one of the girls from behind them.  
"Oh, the girl in the white dress," Pos responded casually, not noticing the fact that the girl's eyes got big.  
"She's creepy!"   
"Yup." Poswet didn't seem to see that this was generally not a good thing. She changed subjects.  
"Peaches!" Dumbledore didn't see fit to give a speech this year, and she noticed a bowl of peaches appearing in front of her.  
"I love that song," she said dreamily, heaping her plate with peppermint humbugs.  
"It's a song?" One of the twins looked confused.  
"Yeah! You know.. Millions of peaches, peaches for me.. Millions of peaches, peaches for free.." She sang a bit of it. She had a surprisingly nice voice, with a scratchy punk rock edge.  
"Never heard it."  
"Huh. Sucks to be you. Where's that kid with the cool scar?"  
"Harry?" queried the girl behind them.  
"Yeah.. Oh.. He's over there.. HI, HARRY!" She shouted, waving one hand (still clutching a peppermint humbug) like mad. Harry smiled nervously and waved back a little, even though the girl wasn't really that far away.  
"She's nutters," the girl behind them muttered.  
"So.." Poswet turned to the twins, looking at them curiously.  
"I'm George Weasley, and this is Fred.. We're not really related, he's just an imitator.."  
"I'm the cute one," said Fred, screwing up his face in an attempt to look girlish.  
"Okay.. Well, I'm Poswet.. Um.." She lowered her voice. "Would it be terribly rude if I threw a piece of pie at that snotty girl back there?"  
"You mean Parvati? She's not so bad.." George looked a little dreamy.  
"Uh-huh.." Poswet gave him a meaningful look.   
"Hey!" protested George.  
"Well.." Poswet crossed her ankles and looked around sneakily before grabbing half of her pie with one hand and throwing it at Parvati. It hit the other girl on the side of the face, and she shrieked angrily.  
"Who threw that?!"  
Poswet stuck her hand in Fred's pumpkin juice to get all the pie stuff off it.   
The twins just looked at her.  
"Poswet To, welcome to Gryffindor," they pronounced unison, with identical grins. Behind them, Parvati was still frantic. Several other Gryffindors were laughing at her.  
"Oh! It's time for bed!" Hermione, who had been quietly talking with Ron and Harry a few feet away, stood up.  
"Follow me, please!"  
Poswet blinked, noticing the "Prefect" badge on the other girl's robes.  
"What in God's almighty name is a prefect?" she whispered to George.  
"Hermione's excuse to boss us around," he muttered back.  
Hermione led them round and round the castle until they reached a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress.  
"The password is "Crookshanks," she informed them.  
"Oh, Hermione," Ron said in exasperation, "After your *cat?*"  
Hermione only shrugged as the portrait swung open (much to Poswet's surprise.  
"Come on," she said kindly to Poswet, "We've got a cot set up for you."  
"Spiffy-keen," said the taller girl, and followed Hermione up the stairs to a cot, where she promptly dropped her luggage on the floor and didn't bother to change, falling onto the cot and into a deep sleep.  
  
Meanwhile, things weren't going so well for Lili.  
The Slytherins were all gazing at her with malice they didn't bother to disguise. The teacher looked at her. Lili thought he was a rather interesting looking fellow, but personality-wise quite dull.  
"What did you say your nickname was?"  
"Lili."  
He took a moment to respond.  
"Lily..?"  
She regarded him with icy amusement.  
"Yes." And with that, she slipped through the portraithole, leaving him staring after her, wide-eyed and confused. 


End file.
